Pitching can be like shooting fish in a barrel, or it can be like hunting with a “fundamental” vegetarian handling the spotlight – or a combination of both. It comes down to your product right? Well, that certainly plays a big part, if people want what you have to sell it should be easy, however, your pitch strategy can make or break the size of your success. Like all sales and marketing processes the way we pitch has evolved – in the eyes of your potential customer they should be an audience-of-one, no one really wants a generic pitch. Each of us are growing accustomed to having everything personalised to us, so this would only be amplified, the bigger the prize!

Before going to market it is prudent to spend time defining your strategy and setting deadlines for each phase. As the objective of each conversation with a potential client is to get to the next conversation with them and the decision makers in their business – a well considered approach will serve you well. At each of the stages ask the questions you really need to know:

What’s the percentage chance that this will be successful?

Which components do you love (and hate)?

How could we modify our offering to meet your objectives?

A fast no, is better than a long drawn out (and expensive) maybe.

The complexity and cost of your product or service will determine how much time and/or money you should invest in your pitch process. You may start the process with a phone call, or a teaser in the post, or a 15 minute coffee catch up – whichever you choose, but remember it’s all about the potential client, so personalise it.

Keep the discussion focussed – spend as little time as possible talking about you or what you’re trying to ‘sell’. Be succinct, pique their interest and be clear about how you think your product or service might help meet their objectives – aim to have them talking for two-thirds of the conversation. Plan out your questions, keep them open and be really focussed on what ‘keeps them up at night’, what are the core problems they need help solving, where are the gaps in their business that this solution may solve.

Remember, at each stage your objective is to get the next meeting, so be clear on what you want to achieve, what information you need and what will happen next.

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Hi! I’m Sam Trattles – I’m curious. I’m a great listener. I’m a straight shooter. I’m a thought leader and business problem solving specialist. I like to challenge the status quo and view the world from the other side of the table.